The Words They Wished They'd Said
by SAISON MARGEURITE
Summary: Harry looked at the woman before him. She stared back at him with bright green eyes. His bright green eyes.
1. The Ultimate Force of Love

Harry flexed his fingers and looked up with an eerie grin. Hermione stood on his left while Ginny and Ron flanked his right.

"You're just making this fun for us!" called out Ron as the four shared one glance before sprinting off into the darkness of the Department of Mysteries. The four children - if they could even be called that - twisted and maneuvered swiftly as bright beams of light were thrown their way. They moved gracefully as if they were practicing a well rehearsed dance. They wore identical expressions of determination, the seriousness of the situation marred only by the smirks they wore on their mouths like badges of superiority.

In turn they threw spells back at their opponents; the stragglers of Death Eaters who remained had been nothing short of a pain in the quartet's asses. They paused when they reached the Space Chamber. They quieted, listening for sounds other than the slight whooshing as floating planets passed them by. Harry felt it before he saw it. A flash of green sparked the corner of his vision and he dived towards Ginny, toppling her to the floor. She gasped as the wind was knocked out of her. Harry scrambled to his feet, tugging on the hands of his girlfriend to lift her up.

"Sorry," he said, not giving her a moment to respond, giving her a swift kiss on the lips. The pair took off in the direction Hermione and Ron had after the criminal. Harry had always thought he'd had enough trouble for a lifetime. However, trouble and him seemed to go hand in hand. A calm, steady life was something that annoyed him. Fighting ran through his veins; it was in his blood. War thumped within each beat of his heart and an adrenaline rush never felt so good.

Harry arrived to find Ron and Hermione stopped in front of an open door.

"It's the Love room," explained Hermione in a meek tone. "It's never been opened before. It's supposed to be locked at all times… why is it open?"

"Why don't we go find out?" asked Ron, eyeing the room in curiosity.

"We don't know what's in there!" cried Hermione, crossing her arms and glaring at her boyfriend.

"Dumbledore mentioned that they were studying the self-sacrificing love that repelled the killing curse for me as well as something about a fountain of Amortentia," said Harry with a shrug. "Regardless, we still have to go in, Mine." Hermione glared at the use of the annoying nickname before sighing and nodding. Harry went first, followed by Ginny, Hermione, and Ron. They walked about fifteen paces into the room before the door behind them shut with a loud bang. They were ensconced within the darkness until Hermione illuminated the tip of her wand. The quartet shared equal looks of apprehension and worry.

"Look… over there," said Ginny, squinting at a small glow to the left of them. They all cautiously made their way to the glow. Ginny was gripping Harry's hand tight in hers. With a quick look over, Harry noticed that Hermione was holding Ron's hand in a similar fashion. They approached the glowing object which was nothing but a jar filled with fireflies.

"Uh, I actually have no words for this," said Ron, quirking an eyebrow at the jar.

"Why do you think it's here?" asked Ginny. Hermione bit her lip with an expression that made the rest of them worry: confusion.

"I don't… know," she admitted.

"This is how we die." stated Ron firmly, his lips twitching and betraying his serious expression. Ginny slapped her brother's arm.

"Shut up, Ron! Don't say something like that," she reprimanded, putting her hand that wasn't intertwined with Harry's on her hips.

"_I have been awaiting your arrival,"_ whispered a faint feminine voice from in front of them. "_And the first thing you do is argue. In the love room of all places._" The glow of the fireflies grew brighter. The group of teenagers took a wary step back. The lid exploded open and they all whipped out their wands as the fireflies began swarming around. Suddenly they flew down to the floor. Quite literally rising from the ground was a woman. At least, everyone _thought_ it was a woman. Her features were ever changing. Her eyes, nose, mouth, cheekbones, hair, hands… _everything_.

"Who are you?" questioned Ginny, being the first to recover from shock.

"_I go by many names. The Greeks called me Aphrodite, the Romans called me Venus, the Albanians called me Prende, but to avoid long discussions that require time none of us quite have, I am simply Love._"

The quartet stared in shock.

"You're shitting me? Love?" asked Ron in surprise. Hermione looked at her boyfriend in annoyance.

"Ron! How can you talk to her like that!?"

"_I understand your disbelief, Ronald Weasley. I imagine I would feel the same way if the situations were reversed,_" she said kindly.

"Erm, Miss… Love?" tried Hermione looking rather shy. "You said you were waiting for us? What… what exactly do you mean by that?" The woman turned to Hermione and seemed to smile.

"_In this world, you experienced a myriad of adventures, have you not? You have all done wonderful things, especially you, Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world._" She turned her imposing gaze upon Harry who flushed slightly.

"Thanks… but it wasn't really me alone. I mean I had help and - " She held a hand and cut him off.

"_Accept my compliments when given, Harry Potter. I don't dole them out often._" Harry swallowed and nodded. "_However, you have all lost a great deal. Family… friends…_" she trailed off and the four of them looked downcast, each thinking of all the lives that had been lost in the unnecessary war.

"_I can change it all._" Harry looked up so fast he wondered if he could have gotten whiplash. "_Far from this world lies another. In this world that is parallel to yours, Lord Voldemort is reigning supreme. In this world, Harry Potter, your parents are still alive. Everyone you have ever mourned is still alive._"

She paused and Harry could hear his heartbeat in his ears. What did that mean? This woman - Love - wanted to send him to another dimension where his parents were alive?

"_You have the possibility of staying here, Harry Potter. You can catch the last wayward Death Eater, then grow old with peace by your side. However, even at 19 years old, you are but a hatchling. I see it within you, boy-who-lived. Fire runs in your veins… in all of your veins_," she said, looking over each of them carefully. "_This world is dying and it needs the four of you to help it. Only you have the power to defeat Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter. You and only you wield that power._"

"Let's do it," said Ginny suddenly. Harry looked at her with a slack expression.

"Gin are you… are you mad? How can we just leave everything behind?!" asked Harry.

"It's your parents, Harry James Potter. Don't tell me you don't want the chance to be with them?" she said narrowing her eyes at him. Harry frowned. Did he want to go through it all again? Harry recalled every single bit of angst and anger and disappointment and fear and hurt he had felt in his past. Now he had a chance to fix it all. Sure, they were all jaded by the war, but they could fix it. Right? They could take peace and calm. Harry thought of this other world. It would be different - so different. The people there would be different. Harry wasn't sure if he could respond to a different version of the people he'd grown to love and call family. Harry thought of Mrs. Weasley and her beaming face every time Harry came over for dinner. Harry thought of Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt and his nod of respect every time Harry walked through the Ministry. Harry thought of little two year old Teddy Lupin who looked at Harry as though he were the most interesting guy in the whole world.

No. Harry wouldn't give any of it up. He looked up defiantly at Love before shaking his head.

"I must regretfully decline. I quite like my life the way it is now, including the people in it," said Harry, giving Ginny a gentle squeeze of his hand. She smiled at him and returned the squeeze.

"_I was quite hoping that would not be your answer, Harry Potter_," Love responded despondently. "_Unfortunately, this just means I have to send you without your consent._" Harry felt his eyes widen in fear as she began to melt again. The quartet didn't need to tell one another to run before they did just that. They took off back in the direction of the door. The ground beneath them rumbled forebodingly. It cracked open and Harry managed to pull Ginny closer to him. She squeaked as she narrowly avoided falling into the dark depths. Their loud pants echoed throughout the room that was slowly collapsing on itself. Harry didn't dare turn around to look at what happened to Love.

"The door won't open!" cried Ron as he tugged on the handle. Hermione pointed her wand to it and tried a variety of spells without success. Ginny had even attempted to blow it up - to no avail. Just before anything could be said, a crack in the floor headed up to them. Ron, without hesitation, pushed Hermione into Ginny who fell into Harry, forcing himself to fall into the crack. Ginny called out after her brother and Hermione let out a loud scream. Unable to stop her in her grief filled state, Hermione scrambled to her knees and tumbled after Ron. Ginny buried her face into Harry's chest who stared at the gaping floor.

Hermione and Ron.

_Hermione and Ron_.

They were his only pillars of strength in his life - his two constants that stood by him no matter what. _Gone_. The ground continued to shake and rumble. Harry merely clutched Ginny tighter.

"Harry, I love you," she muttered, pulling his face down to hers as she anxiously pressed her lips against his. Her cheeks were wet with tear tracks.

"I love you, Ginny," he replied, cupping her cheek and wiping away a tear with a gentle brush of his thumb. Ginny pressed her face into his shoulder and he buried his own face into her hair. The smell of strawberries tided him over as the pair of them felt the ground beneath their bodies loosen.

And so, they fell.

* * *

Harry's eyes fluttered open. His gaze wavered slightly before he could focus his eyes. He licked his lips, vaguely recognizing that his throat was dry and that he _really_ wanted a cup of water. He managed - with great effort - to sit up. He realized he was sitting in a rather nice backyard. Well, it looked nice from Harry's view. He noticed the ground around him was rather destroyed. He heard a flurry of movement. With a feeling of panic, he grabbed his wand and pushed himself to his feet. He teetered back and forth on his feet and his vision kept coming and going.

"Who the _hell_ are you and what do you think you're doing on my property?" asked a rough female voice. A wand was pressed against his throat. Harry blinked.

"H-Harry P-Po-Potter," was all he managed to force out. Harry knew that every witch and wizard knew his name, so he was rather surprised when the wand was pressed deeper into his throat. He swatted at it and stumbled back. "What the fu-" was all he managed to get out before his eyes finally focused once and for all. He looked at the person who'd held their wand at him. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he managed to whisper, "Mum?" before promptly passing out.


	2. Waking Up

"Ginny? Wake up, Gin!" Ginny could hear her brother's frantic voice sound in her head and she tried to yell at him that she was awake. She was awake but surrounded by darkness. Just then, she felt a slight breeze and a loud _SLAP_ against her cheek. She gasped at the pain and her eyes flew wide open. She sat up instantly, breathing loudly.

"What the bloody hell did you do that for?!" she growled.

"You wouldn't wake up… and uh… we have a problem." Ginny turned to look at her brother. Her hand flew to her mouth in shock. Kneeling next to her was an 11-year-old Ron.

"Ron you… you're little!" was all Ginny managed to say. Ron snorted.

"Yeah, you're not so big yourself." Ginny looked down and frowned. She seemed to be trapped within a smaller body herself. "Gin? Do you think… did Love make us like this?"

Ginny paused and pursed her lips. She knew that Ron knew that it was obviously Love who sent them. Ginny barely had time to think about it. Love… Love, sent them somewhere. THE LOVE. What were you supposed to make of that? She looked at her brother and shrugged.

"I don't know, Ron… where are we?" she asked. Ron nodded to her other side. When she turned around, her heart jumped. The Burrow. "We're home," she murmured. Ron stood up then and held out a hand to his sister.

"Let's go see the family!" he said with a grin that made Ginny giggle slightly. She got up and wobbled on her feet. She gave a small whimper of pain as she stood, pushing most of her weight to left foot. "Gin, what is it? What's wrong?"

"I, uh, must have landed on my ankle wrong. No nee-" Ron instantly pulled his sister against him, shrugging her arm around his neck and practically carried her to the house. "Ron! I'm not a child! I can take care of myself!" Ginny whined. Ron gave her a look.

"Actually, you _are_ a child so," said Ron with a cheeky smirk. Ginny rolled her eyes and scoffed at him.

"Mum?" called out Ginny. Mrs. Weasley rushed into the room.

"Ginny? Oh, Ginny what's happened!" She kneeled and tapped Ginny's ankle with her wand. "Just a minor sprain, love. It won't hurt a bit - " she ignored Ginny's loud cry of pain and kissed her daughter's ankle, much to the embarrassment of Ginny.

"Mum, _please_!" Molly looked up then and was suddenly on her feet. She had her wand out and pointed at Ron's face, her eyes blazing like the day she had killed Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Mum?" asked Ron weakly.

"Mum, what are you doing?!" asked Ginny in a fearful voice. "It's Ron, mum!"

"Ginny, slowly step away _now_." ordered Molly. Ron nodded to his sister and gently pulled his arm away from her.

"It's okay, Ginny," said Ron in a calm, kind voice. Molly looked at the boy in shock.

"No, it's not, Ron! Mum, what's wrong? Why are you pointing at Ron with a wand?" asked Ginny, putting her hands on her hips angrily glaring at the woman in front of her.

"Ginny, what - don't you remember?" asked Molly slowly, her gaze flickering between Ginny and the imposter Ron.

"What are you talking about, mum?" asked Ginny with a sigh. Molly looked at her daughter with a withering look, her bottom lip trembling slightly. Ron and Ginny shared a worried look that made Molly angry again. How dare this person come in and get this close to her daughter?

"Ginny, Ron died 9 years ago."

* * *

Hermione woke up to find herself in her old childhood room. "Ron?" she called out. The door pushed open and Hermione was surprised to see her mother enter the room with a fearful expression.

"Hermione, my love, how are you feeling today?" asked her mother. Hermione blinked and couldn't help but jump up and envelop her mother into a hug. She held back a sob as her mother rubbed her back gently, asking her what was wrong in a scared voice.

"I'm feeling great today, mum. I just love you," said Hermione with a small smile. The older woman smiled kindly at her daughter.

"I love you too, darling. I wanted to ask… have you decided yet? On what that woman said about that school?" Hermione pulled away slowly and blinked owlishly.

"What?"

"Hogwarts, Hermione," her mother reminded, giving her a significant look. "I know that you'll face a lot of shunning because she said neither your father or I are magic, but with that murderer out loose you'll be safer there - " rambled her mother and Hermione looked down to realize she was in a much smaller body. Hermione didn't even have time to mourn over her recently acquired curves before snapping her head up.

"Of course I'll go," confirmed Hermione. Where Hogwarts was, Harry and Ron were sure to be. Mrs. Granger let out a choked sob and brought her daughter in for another hug. Hermione melted into her mother's grasp. It had been much too long.

* * *

Harry liked to think about death sometimes. Well, he liked to think about the fact that death would bring him his family. He liked to think about how his parents would receive him for the first time. He used to imagine a lot of hugging and tears.

Somehow, bound and gagged with ropes never quite fit the bill.

Harry was sitting calmly in a chair as Lily Evans-Potter paced in front of him. Her eyebrows were furrowed together in frustrated determination, her shoulders were small but wide all the same - as if carrying the weight of the world upon them, her fingers deftly twisting her wand in between her fingers. Harry breathed out through his nose rather loudly and she stopped, turning to face him suddenly. Harry looked at the woman before him. She stared back at him with bright green eyes. His bright green eyes.

Just then, the door burst open, revealing three men that made Harry's heart swell even if he were currently bound. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and James Potter stopped in front of Harry. James stood a few paces in front of them, ever the leader, his expression blank though his eyes were dark and the hazel gleamed so brightly that it reminded Harry of the fires he was used to in Gryffindor tower. Sirius flanked his right side. Unlike his friends, Sirius' body was relaxed. His face was a mask of calm indifference and he regarded Harry coolly. Harry could tell that Sirius wasn't relaxed. His nostrils flared slightly and his fingers clenched and unclenched slowly, his forefingers twitching a bit. Remus was the most obvious. There was a low guttural growl emitting from his throat and he looked like a general for an army. Broad shouldered and sneering, Harry could practically see the wolf in him ready to burst out to protect his pack. It nearly made him shiver in fear.

"James?" asked Lily softly. James snapped his gaze to his wife. They shared some kind of look as if communicating telepathically. Harry felt as though it should make him uncomfortable, but in reality it just made him entirely gleeful. He closed his eyes and impressed the memory within his mind. This James and Lily were different, but Harry figured this was the closest he would get to his mom and dad. He finally opened his eyes when he felt a wand pressed against him.

"Who are you?" asked James, his voice dripping with venom. Harry then raised an eyebrow and stood up easily, shredding the ropes from his body. The four wizards all whipped out their wands and Harry smirked, wiping his clothes of the leftover rope materials.

"Don't worry. If I was going to attack, I would have done so already," said Harry with a shrug. "I'm Harry Potter." They all visibly tensed. Harry wondered why - didn't the Harry Potter in this time or dimension or universe look like him? However, their response was justified, he supposed. If someone fell onto the face of the Earth looking just like himself he was sure he'd be holding the boy up to wand point as well.

"That's impossible," said Sirius, his voice scary calm. Harry's gaze flickered upwards to his godfather and he frowned. "Harry Potter has been dead for 9 years." James and Remus winced at Sirius forwardness whereas Lily merely looked downcast. Harry felt his mouth fall open slightly.

Well, he sure as hell was _not_ expecting that.

"What?" asked Harry in a surprised tone.

"How did you get rid of my binds so easily?" asked Lily curiously. Harry looked at her and raised an eyebrow. He looked down and realized - crap! He was in a smaller body. His magic may have been that of a powerful 19 year old that had magic coming out of the kazoo after the loss of a magically suffocating horcrux, but his body was still small. He frowned. Love just _had_ to make him young again.

"Accidental magic?" offered Harry weakly. The adults didn't look convinced in the slightest. "Look, my name is Harry Potter and um… I can prove it to you! Tell you things that only you know amongst each other?" They shared looks of distrust but James Potter nodded anyway.

"Go on then. Prove yourself."

"Stag," said Harry pointing to his father, "Dog," at Sirius, "Werewolf," at Remus, "And doe," finished Harry looking at his mother. "Sirius gave me my first broom which I nearly killed the cat with apparently…" Harry paused before suddenly remembering something else. "Oh! Sirius, you also nearly sent Severus Snape to his premature death when you were all around sixteen years old and dad - uh, James - saved him. Severus never believed him though. Always thought that James was in on the plan and just got cold feet."

Lily spun around so quickly to look at the three boys that they all jumped in shock.

"You never said!" she said angrily.

"How do you know that?!" asked Sirius, his calm mask fading as his wand was pointed in Harry's face.

"My godfather told me," said Harry slowly, looking up to meet the eyes of Sirius. Sirius stared at him for a long time - gray searching green before backing up.

"Sirius?" implored James. Sirius blinked and shook his head.

"I- I can't. He's so much like little Harry," murmured Sirius, avoiding Harry's lingering gaze. Harry pursed his lips. He was dead. Well, that was certainly interesting. Harry felt his heart race suddenly as he wondered how the others were doing. He needed to get this over with so that he could go find his friends and make sure they were okay.

"He looks _exactly_ like you, Prongs," stated Remus, his eyes looking Harry up and down. "Except his eyes. Those are definitely all Lily." Lily turned around again and looked at Harry with such an intense gaze that he had to blush and look away.

"Is he - _are you shy_?" asked James suddenly as if it was such a weird thing. Harry blinked.

"Of course not. I wouldn't be shy from my own _mum_," said Harry with as much conviction as he could manage.

"We should give him Veritaserum," suggested Lily suddenly, turning back to the others.

"If he can transfigure himself to look like - like _that_, then I hardly think Veritaserum will work too well on him," scoffed Sirius.

"What if he's not lying? How did he know all that? The only people who know those things are us, Snape, and Dumbledore," said Remus.

"Oh, and you don't think Snivellus would have told anyone about that night?" spat Sirius. Sirius jumped suddenly. "Ow!"

"Don't call him that in front of me," warned Harry.

"Did you just hex me? _Without a wand_?"

"I can't do much else without a wand," shrugged Harry. "Basic stinging hexes, unlocking curses… I can apparate short distances as well, but that's about it."

"Oh, _that's it_, is it?" asked James in surprise.

"Okay, _ENOUGH_," snapped Lily. "We need to be serious here! And no, Sirius, don't you dare. We should call Dumbledore."

"I have an idea," suggested Harry meekly. They all looked at him. "Do any of you know how to use Legilimency?" Harry knew that Snape started learning Legilimency and Occlumency when he was young. Perhaps he told his mum about it and perhaps she learned a little bit of it before they broke the friendship.

"I've dabbled," said Sirius, breaking the silence. Harry felt his eyebrows rise. Sirius knew Legilimency? He hadn't ever mentioned…. well, then again this was a different Sirius. A Sirius without the darkness of Azkaban looming over his head like a dark omnipresent cloud. At least, that's what it seemed like. Sirius looked like a picture of health. His skin was no longer sallow and pale and his eyes weren't constantly refocusing as if he were lost back in his old cell.

"I don't want you tearing up my mind like some kind of crazy animal. Can you exercise control?" asked Harry, already slowly taking down his mental barriers. Sirius nodded. He slowly raised his wand arm before clearly muttering a spell. Harry felt himself being propelled backwards into his mind.

Memories raced through his mind… the Dursley's… meeting Ron and Hermione… his sorting into Gryffindor… his first time on a broom… his first time in a match… the Stone… Dobby… Malfoy's taunts… the Chamber… the basilisk… Ginny… Sirius… Remus… Peter… the dementors… the Triwizard tournament… Cedric dying… Voldemort returning… Umbridge's blood quills… Sirius falling through the Veil. Then all the deaths seemed to come back with a vengeance. Dumbledore, Hedwig, Dobby, Mad-Eye, Fred, Remus, Tonks… Harry couldn't take it. He slammed down his barriers, forcing the spell to stop.

_No more_!

Sirius flew backwards. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were widened in fear. Remus and James were at his side instantly, hoisting him up as he mumbled incoherently, his voice wavering in pitch. Lily had her wand at Harry again, who had his fists clenched and his eyes forced shut. He swayed slightly on his two feet. He shuddered at the sight of the bodies again.

_All your fault, Harry. It was all your fault._

Harry forced him to shake his head, battling with his own guilt. "Not my fault… not my fault…" Harry whispered to himself.

"What is it, Padfoot? What did you see?!" asked James, attempting to garner information from his terrified friend.

"It's Harry… it's Harry," Sirius repeated, looking at the boy with a renewed look of fear, adoration, and desperation. Unsurprisingly, Sirius crossed the room and brought Harry into his arms. Harry relaxed within his grip. He'd missed these hugs. Sirius had a way of hugging someone that made the person within his grasp feel utterly helpless, but in a good way. If that made sense… Harry thought it did anyway.

"I was the worst godparent in the whole world," Sirius finally said. Harry snorted.

"Nah, wasn't your fault. Besides, you did get me the most expensive broomstick ever made to make up for it." Sirius gave a small laugh at that.

"I hardly think it does but… Harry, that… you're not from here are you?" asked Sirius. Harry shrugged.

"My friends and I were in the department of mysteries chasing down what was left of the death eaters -" He heard everyone suck in deep breaths. " - and we came into this Love room and Love herself, like the actual god of Love came to us and sent us here. Next thing I know I'm waking up to my mum pointing a wand in my face."

"Must have been quite a shock to see her, then," murmured Sirius, looking rather broken at the prospect of a dead Lily and James.

"Sorry to break up this love fest, but uh, mind telling the rest of us _what the bloody hell is going on_?" snapped James, crossing his arms over his chest, his wand still poking out of his hand. Sirius stepped to the side, his arm still casually thrown over Harry's shoulders.

"James, meet your son from another world, Harry Potter."

* * *

**A/N: Not too happy with this chapter but oh well! Hope you guys like it! I was so pleased with the initial amount of of reviews and follows and favorites! You guys are amazing! :) Thank you for reading!**


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